When writing a list of things to do, we look into the future. We write things like:
- “Do report”
- “Clean gutters”
- …
The implication is that if we make it through our list, we will have completed the report and cleaned the gutters.
Obvious, no?
Tasks can Create a Force-Based System
What is not so obvious is a process of enslavement. It is a part of a force-based system.
We imagine a world we want, something that would address our desires, worries, and the like, enshrine it in the form of tasks and lists, and then doggedly pursue it.
The future vision is one that, by definition, does not fit with our present reality. But we use the vision to force a new present.
At times, we even celebrate this enslavement, often calling them “goals”.
The Seduction of Goals
“But I need goals. Goals are good. I have my 5-year-vision plan right here!”
Fine. Certainly goals and tasks can be useful, but even the need to continually update them as they do not match present reality is itself another piece of work. Meanwhile, you are also working with a never-ending crushing debt.
Present You attempts to force Future You by making demands. Past You, in turn, attempts to force Present You with its visions do not connect with current reality.
Particularly as the list inevitably grows well beyond any human capacity, we are forced to recognize its impossible nature, if not collapse into another bout of exhaustion, shame, and anger.
Acknowledging the Selves in Time
But what’s the alternative?
Whatever works needs to acknowledge each Self in time: Past, Present, and Future. Each Self has to have their own sense of agency recognized.
- Each has their own desires and worries.
- Each has their own constantly shifting mental landscape to weigh.
- Each has their own decisions to make.
Without this acknowledgement, we fall pray to the destructive Force-Based systems of work.
A Visit-based system opens the door to this acknowledgement.
There are any number of methods by which we can practice a Visit-based system. One method is found in a simple change of wording. For example, instead of “Do report”, we could write:
“Continue report”
Here, we could make a visit to the report, stay for as short or as long as makes sense, at which point we can mark the visit complete. If the report is not done, we could then write another “Continue report” task for tomorrow.
Past You makes an invitation, Present You makes the visit and decides, and Future You awaits the next invite.
Meanwhile, we are free. We might discover other information to gather, a fault in the report, or that it ought to be scrapped altogether, followed by plans to discuss its issues with others.
More Than a Meaningless Play on Words
It may seem that I’ve suggested a meaningless shift, a play on words if anything. That is until you begin to gather a number of these, where you start to recognize a compounding power.
Together, accommodating ideas you would like to get to in the Future, ideas that have supported you from the Past, and ideas you are currently engaging, you create a Guide to manage a the multiple currents of your life.
The Power and Benefits of a Guide
When practiced, a Guide orchestrates a continual discussion between the Past, Present, and Future Selves, allowing you full agency and without force.
Waves of Focus members have found how a Guide:
- Provides a finish line for the day
- Provides a space for future desires and concerns
- Provides a path for rapidly shifting projects without impulsivity
- Provides for a smooth and automatic record of work and play
- Offers a sense that what is important is moving forward
- Allows a dive deep when and where you want
- Promotes fresh energy for every visit
- Promotes a natural pace between self and your chosen focus
- Reduces a sense of “bitterness” in work, found when it is instead forced into completion
- Brings structure and spontaneity in support of each other
- Gently presents difficult matters, minimizing tendencies towards procrastination
– Kourosh
PS I’ll be presenting once again at Learn OmniFocus, where I’ll be describing the use of The Anchor Technique in OmniFocus.
